NFL Conference Championships 2017: Everything You Need to Know for Sunday

There are years when we can look back after the Super Bowl at Championship Sunday and agree that the playoffs' best game wasn't the one played under the brightest spotlight—instead, it was a game played by two of the NFL's final four teams that provided the real marquee matchup.

But what if we get three riveting games to end the season?

Everything is lined up to satisfy your football taste buds multiple times over on Sunday, with four of the NFL's most dynamic squads set to determine who plays in Super Bowl LI.

The first of two anticipated matchups will feature two MVP candidate quarterbacks when the Green Bay Packers visit the Atlanta Falcons. Right now, it feels like the Packers' Aaron Rodgers could complete a pass while spinning, blindfolded and on a different field. But on the other sideline will be the Falcons' Matt Ryan, who's completed 70-plus percent of his attempts in four straight games. Ryan hasn't thrown an interception since Week 13, while Rodgers was picked off last week for the first time since Week 10.

In the AFC, the New England Patriots are downright lethal at home, having lost just four games at Gillette Stadium since the start of 2013. But can their third-ranked run defense hope to contain Pittsburgh Steelers back Le'Veon Bell?

That's just one of the many burning questions that will be answered Sunday while your football pleasure sensors get the workout of their lives. Let's dive in and explore.

The Games

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What: Packers at Falcons

When: 3:05 p.m. ET Sunday

Where: Georgia Dome

Network: Fox

Expected Weather: N/A (Dome)

Line (via Oddsshark.com): Falcons -6

This game will be the Georgia Dome's swan song before Atlanta moves into its shiny new spaceship-like home. The Falcons have one home win so far this postseason, but that doesn't erase the dismal history that will forever haunt the Georgia Dome.

The dome opened in 1992 and didn't host its first playoff game until 1998. Yes, Atlanta was that bad—it finished with a record above .500 just once during its first six years in the Georgia Dome and hosted only one playoff game in the dome's first dozen years of existence.

Win or lose, the Falcons will move across the road after Sunday. At best, their bland, white-canvas football tent will have hosted only five playoff victories by Atlanta.

The dome is still loud, but of the Falcons' five regular-season losses, three of them came at home.

What: Steelers at Patriots

When: 6:40p.m. ET Sunday

Where: Gillette Stadium

Network: CBS

Expected Weather: 36 degrees with a 62 percent chance of rain, 10 mph winds and 15 mph gusts

Line (via Oddsshark.com): Patriots -6

Pittsburgh and New England have met four times in the postseason, including twice during the Tom Brady-Bill Belichick era.

The Patriots won both of those games (in 2001 and 2004), but that means absolutely nothing now. You'll recall the latter contest came during a long-ago time when we were trying to figure out what was down a hatch if football wasn't on TV.

The teams met in the 2016 regular season, though it takes a bit of narrative stretching to draw much meaning from that game and apply it to Sunday. Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger missed Week 7 with a knee injury, which allowed the New England defense to focus on containing Bell.

That contributed greatly to Bell's subpar outing. The 24-year-old has played 14 games this year and finished with fewer than 100 rushing yards only six times. Against the Patriots, he had 81 yards on 21 carries but did add 68 yards on 10 receptions.

Injury Report

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Here are the injury reports:

Packers

• Wide receiver Davante Adams (ankle); questionable
• Wide receiver Geronimo Allison (hamstring); questionable
• Safety Morgan Burnett (quadricep); questionable
• Running back Christine Michael (back); questionable
• Wide receiver Jordy Nelson (ribs); questionable
• Cornerback Quinten Rollins (neck/concussion); questionable
• Running back James Starks (concussion); out
• Center/guard JC Tretter (knee); out

Prior to the divisional round, there was some concern about the Packers offense and if that steaming locomotive would lose any momentum without Nelson. It did not, as Rodgers passed for 355 yards and two touchdowns.

But that came with players seamlessly filling in for Nelson. Most notably, Adams and Allison combined for 122 yards on eight catches. Neither receiver practiced from Wednesday through Friday, leaving Green Bay with injury concerns around three of its top four receivers.

Nelson has made progress, but much of it has felt like baby steps. He was a limited participant during practices Wednesday and Thursday, and then he sat out Friday with an illness.

"I just caught some balls, tried to slowly work back to it and feel things out," he said Wednesday, via Bill Huber of Scout.com.

It's hard to nurse broken ribs back to health, and the simple act of running can be incredibly painful with each jarring step. So if the Packers get anything from Nelson, it should be considered a bonus.

Adams, meanwhile, injured his ankle during Green Bay's divisional-round win. He didn't practice all week and is listed as questionable. He's expected to play, per the NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, but his ability to be effective is in serious doubt.

Then there's Allison, who faces the same situation as Adams albeit with a hamstring injury. He'll likely play too, according to Rapoport, but his ability to contribute is also uncertain.

Packers head coach Mike McCarthy said Thursday that all three would sit out if this were a regular-season game, via Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Falcons

• None

The Falcons are remarkably healthy for a team that's playing in mid-January. The only concern is an obvious one: Will Julio Jones' toe hold up for an entire game?

Jones finished second in the league with 1,409 regular-season receiving yards, and he did it while battling a toe issue and missing two games. He re-injured that toe in the divisional round and played a season-low 59.2 percent of Atlanta's offensive snaps, per Pro Football Focus.

But a hobbled Jones caught six passes for 67 yards and a touchdown against the Seattle Seahawks. He didn't practice Wednesday or Thursday, and he might not be 100 percent during the NFC Championship Game. If the Falcons get even 80 percent of Jones, however, that's still better than 100 percent of almost anyone else.

Steelers

• Tight end Ladarius Green (concussion, illness); questionable
• Linebacker James Harrison (shoulder, triceps); questionable
• Running back Fitzgerald Toussaint (concussion); questionable

The Steelers are also relatively healthy, and the only injury of significance is to Green. The team managed Harrison's practice time, but he should be fine, per Rapoport.

Green has had concussion issues all season and missed the wild-card and divisional rounds. He practiced Friday but in a limited capacity and not with the first-team offense, according to ESPN.com's Jeremy Fowler.

While a healthy Green would surely be a welcome sight, Pittsburgh has enough depth to overcome his absence. It proved that when backup tight end Jesse James caught five passes for 83 yards against the Kansas City Chiefs last weekend.

Patriots

• Wide receiver Danny Amendola (ankle); questionable
• Tight end Martellus Bennett (knee); questionable
• Running back Brandon Bolden (knee); questionable
• Middle linebacker Dont'a Hightower (shoulder); questionable
• Wide receiver Chris Hogan (thigh); questionable
• Wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell (knee); questionable
• Defensive end Jabaal Sheard (knee); questionable

There are a lot of dings on the Patriots injury report, but aside from star tight end Rob Gronkowski's season-ending back issue, no one is expected to miss Sunday's game, and every player listed practiced in limited capacity all week.

There is, however, some concern surrounding Hogan. He was walking with a limp Friday, according to Sports Illustrated's Greg A. Bedard, which puts his top-end speed and general mobility in question.

But New England should have enough depth to make up for Hogan if he's restricted. Mitchell was a limited practice participant prior to the divisional round but missed the Patriots' win over the Houston Texans. ESPN.com's Mike Reiss, though, reported Mitchell is "trending in the right direction."

Biggest Questions

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Can the Patriots limit Bell?

Let's establish this right away: Bell isn't fair.

The Steelers running back is averaging an absurd 158.9 yards from scrimmage per game, including the playoffs.

Sure, the Patriots held him to just 3.9 yards per carry in Week 7—a full yard lower than his per-game average in the regular season—but as mentioned previously, an already strong New England run defense had the luxury of keying on Bell with Landry Jones under center for Pittsburgh.

There is a precedent, however, for a high-end run defense to slow Bell even when Roethlisberger is healthy. That came in Week 10, when the top-ranked Dallas Cowboys run defense bottled Bell up for just 57 yards on 17 carries (3.4 yards per carry).

In that game, though, Bell still contributed a rushing touchdown and 77 yards and another score on nine receptions, which is what makes him so dangerous.

Can the Steelers finish a drive or two?

The focus at the end of Pittsburgh's divisional-round win was on the Chiefs' failure to tie the game, and especially the holding penalty by left tackle Eric Fisher that negated a successful two-point conversion. But really, that game had no business being close.

Pittsburgh put together seven drives that advanced inside the opposing 30-yard line, and on five of those drives, it also marched into the red zone. Yet it still didn't score a single touchdown, instead settling for six field goals.

It held on for a road playoff win, but now the Steelers face a Patriots defense that allowed a league-low 15.6 points per game in the regular season. Settling for field goals at Gillette Stadium will certainly spell doom.

Will a banged-up wide receiver corps finally catch up with the Packers?

We get it, Rodgers. When the Packers quarterback is playing at a world-beating level like he is now, everyone around him turns into a Pro Bowler.

At least it feels that way. But could Rodgers look a little human if his supporting cast further dwindles or is hobbled?

As we discussed, the list of injuries to Green Bay's receivers is lengthy. Nelson will surely be limited if he plays, and though Adams and Allison will likely play, missing a week of practice isn't exactly an encouraging sign for their performance levels.

The NFC Championship Game is set up to be a shootout between two high-octane offenses against two solid but flawed defenses. And the Packers could be missing some firepower.

Can the Falcons get consistent pressure on Rodgers?

The Falcons' pass rush improved greatly in 2016. But of its 34 sacks, 15.5 came from outside linebacker Vic Beasley.

As impressive as Beasley was all season, with four multi-sack games, it's not difficult to imagine Packers right tackle Bryan Bulaga neutralizing him to some degree. Bulaga allowed only four sacks this season on 679 pass-block snaps, according to PFF.

If Beasley can't get consistent pressure on Rodgers or create chaos, a scorching-hot quarterback will have more than enough time to pick apart the league's 28th-ranked secondary. Then again, it might not matter either way. Rodgers has been sacked eight times over two playoff games, and he's still thrown for 717 yards and six touchdowns while averaging 8.6 yards per attempt.

Green Bay Packers at Atlanta Falcons Breakdown

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There are a whole lot of health concerns surrounding the Packers, both among the wide receivers and a group of defensive backs that has been limping all season.

Again, logic says being limited on game day and missing precious preparation time throughout the week will catch up to the contributors in question. But that hasn't happened yet, and no matter who is out there, Rodgers is simply an unstoppable superhero who draws up plays in the sand.

The Green Bay offense has scored 30-plus points in six straight games. Over an eight-game winning streak, the Packers' margin of victory has been 12.6 points, and that hasn't been boosted by contests against bottom-of-the-barrel defenses, either.

In fact, quite the opposite. Green Bay's two playoff opponents so far (the Cowboys and New York Giants) fielded defenses that ranked in the top five in points allowed in the regular season. The Packers also put up 38 points apiece on the Seahawks (third in points allowed) and Minnesota Vikings (sixth in points allowed).

The Falcons defense, meanwhile, ranked 27th in that metric.

The expected shootout took shape when these teams met in Week 8, as Atlanta squeaked out a 33-32 home-field victory. That was when Rodgers was slumping, though, and before the rise of running back Ty Montgomery. The pieces are in place for Green Bay to prevail in another close contest—even with the bumps and bruises to its wide receivers.

Prediction: Packers 35, Falcons 30

Pittsburgh Steelers at New England Patriots Breakdown

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We know the Steelers can score points in bunches. We've seen that repeatedly during a nine-game winning streak during which their loaded offense has averaged 25.9 points per game.

The question, against a Patriots team that also scores points by the cargo load, lies on the other side of the ball.

The Steelers defense has improved while fueled by a 38-year-old gym rat. Pittsburgh has allowed just 28 total points over two playoff games, and it has surrendered only 16.6 per game during its winning streak. But there's reason to be concerned about how the Steelers will react when asked to prevent a shootout.

Pittsburgh didn't face many high-caliber offenses in the regular season, as it only had to stop three opponents that finished among the top 10 in points per game.

The Steelers allowed 69 points over those three games, which included a 27-16 home loss to the third-ranked Patriots and a 35-30 home loss to the fifth-ranked Cowboys. In Week 7, New England running back LeGarrette Blount rumbled for 127 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries (5.3 yards per carry).

Pittsburgh must play a flawless game to win on the road and advance to its third Super Bowl during the Mike Tomlin era. That will be a mighty tough ask in chilly Foxborough, where playoff teams go to meet their demise.

Prediction: Patriots 24, Steelers 17

What Happens Next?

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Oh, you know what's next: two weeks of picking apart every nook and cranny of a matchup, a media day with characters like barrel man, humans that double as walking billboards on radio row, so many parties and bad late-night decisions and finally, a football game.

It's Super Bowl LI!

Any matchup between two of the four teams remaining will be compelling and worthy of the game's grandest stage. In Houston, we'll see two of the NFL's best quarterbacks and two of the league's best offenses. If things fall one way, we could see two of the game's best wide receivers (Brown vs. Jones), and if they fall another, we'll see two of the sport's best rushing attacks (Falcons vs. Patriots).

There's no wrong option, and falling into a deep winter slumber to make the 14 days fly by isn't a bad idea at all. If that's your preferred time-passing method, please be well aware of some vital information:

Time and date: 6:30 p.m. ET Sunday, Feb. 9

Venue:  NRG Stadium

Halftime performer: Lady Gaga